©
Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc photo by Dan Peters
Veteran driver
Bobby Gerhart wins record fifth ARCA 200 Race at Daytona
by Dan Peters
Experience and pit strategy all played a part in Bobby Gerhart's
ARCA RE/MAX Series victory Saturday afternoon at Daytona. In front of
nearly 70,000 chilly race fans. Gerhart showed his super speedway
expertise, claiming 3rd straight Daytona 200 opener, a RE/MAX Series
record on the 2.5-mile super speedway.
In his #5 Lucas Oil Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, Gerhart dominated the
demolition derby leading 54 of 80 laps.
Erin
Crocker
©
Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc photo by Dan Peters
Erin Crocker, driving for Evernham
Motorsports grabbed the Pole Award with a top speed of 182.219 mph. It
was Crocker's fourth ARCA series pole tying her with Patty Moise for
the most ARCA/RE/MAX Series poles for female drivers.
Crocker was looking to become the first woman to win is a Stock Car on
the National level. Tonight
was not the night.
Veterans
would rule this afternoon
"I can remember my first trip here I think in 1987 and coming across
the racetrack I think at 5:30 a.m., and I remember thinking to myself
what it'd be like to win here," Gerhart said.
"I could never have fathomed at the time we'd one day have five (wins).
It's so hard to believe. It's been so much hard work getting here. But
what a feeling when it all pays off. We've had a lot of 30-something
place finishes, a lot of insignificant runs. But we just kept good
notes and turned things around."
Gerhart pitted just once for fuel, an air pressure adjustment and
right-side tires only. Mario Gosselin, had his own pit strategy, beat
Gerhart off pit road after pitting for fuel only, without changing a
single tire.
Gosselin, in the #12 Danmark Construction-Mighty EZY Chevrolet, led the
next 21 laps before Gerhart made his winning move. The winning pass
came on lap 57 when with no drafting help, Gerhart made a bold maneuver
to the outside of Gosselin in turn two. If the two machines did not
touch, they came as close as they could without contact. Gerhart held
his line and maintained control while Gosselin shot up into the outside
retaining wall.
"Did I make contact with Mario? Absolutely not. He was working his car
pretty good just to keep me at bay. I just was very, very patient and
used every inch of the racetrack to try and make my move.....was very
calculated at it. I think what happened there was just the rush."
Gosselin, after pit road repairs, battled back to finish 13th.
We had a good car and I was glad we could lead some laps," Gosselin
said. "I learned a lot but just got a little too free and I'm sure
Bobby (Gerhart) has a little more experience on me. After the wreck I
didn't think we would run as good as we did, but the car was good; we
just ran out of laps. I'm just glad everybody was okay."
From there, Gerhart kept the 20-car lead pack at bay through the
remainder of the race, including during a late-race restart that
required the field to take the green and white flags together for a
one-lap shoot-out to the checkered flag.
But in the end, no driver had anything for Gerhart, who crossed under
the checkered flag .303 seconds ahead of rookie Marc Mitchell who, in
the Ergon Pontiac (The only Pontiac in the field), turned heads with a
solid runner-up finish after leading five laps.
"My crew gave me a great car, but there was no catching the 5,"
Mitchell said. "I think we definitely made a statement Saturday. This
is just a great start to what will be an outstanding season with Ergon."
"This car was strong today," said Mitchell. "I actually I wanted it to
end before the green-white-checkered because I was going to go for it
until that last caution came out. But that last lap was interesting.
There was a lot of excitement."
The day got off to a dramatic start for Mitchell when he failed to
report on time to the mandatory driver's meeting. As per the ARCA
rulebook, Mitchell had to start the race from the rear of the 41-car
starting field. The mistake, however, turned out to be a blessing in
disguise.
"It was embarrassing to have to move to the back," said Mitchell. "But
if we would have kept our position, we would have probably been right
in the middle of several of the early cautions."
Jeremy Clements, in the Harrison's Work Wear-1 Stop Convenience
Store-Saxon Group Chevrolet, finished third..
"There was nothing you could really do out there besides stay in line
because the outside line wasn't going anywhere," said Clements.
"Bobby's (Gerhart) car was very strong out there. I'm not happy with
third. I mean I'm happy with it but there was nothing we could do. His
[Gerhart's] car was dominate."
David Ragan, in the #39 Roush Racing (fielded by the Roulo Brothers),
used the ARCA 200 as a tune-up for the Daytona 500. He finished
fourth.
Eight-time RE/MAX Series champion Frank Kimmel, still winless at
Daytona, finished fifth in the #46 Tri-State Motorsports-Pork Ford.
"Had a great car," Kimmel said. "Strong in the draft. Had trouble on a
pit stop that cost us a lot, and just couldn't get it back."
Timothy Peters, in the Richard Childress Racing Cometic Gasket-Okuma
Chevrolet, finished sixth.
Series regular Justin Allgaier, in the AG Tech-Trashman-Hoosier Tire
Midwest Chevrolet, earned the Hoosier Tire Hard Award for his solid
seventh place finish after starting 31st.
The # 94 Monte
Carlo of Brad Coleman is in the wall at Daytona.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc
photo by Dan Peters
Dodge development driver Scott Lagasse, Jr. finished eighth. Series
rookies' Phillip McGilton and Michael McDowell completed the top-10
respectively.
There were seven cautions flags that slowed the race for a total of 46
laps. Most were for multi-car crashes that are typical at Daytona and
Talladega Super Speedways. There were no serious injuries, just some
angry drivers in the pit and garage areas.
Top-10 ARCA
RE/MAX Series points after Daytona 200
1)
Bobby Gerhart 245
2) Marc Mitchell 225
3) Jeremy Clements 215
4) David Ragan 210
5) Frank Kimmel 210
6) Timothy Peters 200
7) Justin Allgaier 195
8) Scott Lagasse 190
9) Phillip McGilton 185
10) Michael McDowell 180.
Next up…. The Construct Corps-Palm
Beach Grading 250 at USA Int'l Speedway in Lakeland, Florida on March 24
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